Blinded
by JesseLowe
Summary: Bailey Miller never thought she would lose her best friend because of one stupid party over summer holidays. But now, everything she knows is changing and she has no idea how to stop it. The question is, if she knew how to stop it, would she?


Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter, I only own the character you don't recognize, JK Rowling does.

Before now I never really understood the expression "jaw dropping". I mean how can a persons jaw just drop? It makes no sense at all, no one really just stands there as their mouth falls wide open, I mean I had never seen any body react like that.

But if there ever was a situation where my jaw would, literally, drop; it would be right now. I don't know whether to feel shocked or betrayed, seeing as how my mind couldn't make a decision I settled on just being angry. Before I knew it, in just about thirty seconds, I was seething. No matter how mad I was though, I couldn't tear my eyes away from the horrifying sight unfolding in front of me. I felt like a cliché, the betrayed best friend, but I wasn't going to just let her stomp all over me like this.

I force myself to turn around and walk out of the room, when I get to the hallway I unconsciously start to walk faster which garners strange looks from my classmates and friends. By the time I get to the staircase I'm practically sprinting, my brain hardly registers Paul, a good natured attractive boy in my class, asking me if I'm all right. I force myself to slow down long enough to push past the adults standing in the foyer and make my way up the second staircase determined not to change my mind. I walked into the room and stood between our two beds, I considered doing something mean to hers but I knew that would only be childish. I calmly stuffed everything I had brought into my trunk as quickly as I could. I went into the closet and took everything she had borrowed from me over the past few years; I wasn't going to let her keep anything. While I did all this my mind was racing.

I'm a really good best friend. Not to sound cocky or anything but I do everything right. I listen to her when she needs to vent, I spot her a few sickles here and there when she doesn't have any money, and I am unfailingly loyal. Any of the guys that hurt her immediately become my enemy, I hate all the girls that talk shit about her and I would not hesitate to defend her to anyone. But I guess I should have expected this, I mean I always had the feeling that she never really appreciated or respected me. I was always second best, whether it was to her flavor of the week or just her new potions partner.

I mean, I couldn't compare to her, she was beautiful. Not in a really stand out way, but her looks attracted attention. Where my hair is an ugly dark brown, hers is a beautiful combination of honey brown highlights over a slightly darker color. She could just walk out of the shower and it would dry naturally into perfect loose ringlets, or use a spell to straighten it like she normally did for parties. Practically the opposite, when I let my hair dry after I shower it's this weird medium between straight and frizzy, I have to spend time on it to make it look decent. Her skin looked just as good in the middle of winter as it did with a healthy summer tan, and her eyes were the prettiest color brown. She never wore any make-up and still looked gorgeous, meanwhile I have to wear cover-up to make my skin look as even as hers is.

I'm not trying to say I'm ugly or really plain, people tell me my eyes are stunning but besides that I really don't find myself appealing. My skin tans really well during summer break, but by the time Christmas roles around I look a little bit sick. Not to mention that I'm embarrassingly short, I haven't grown much since first year. So standing just over five feet I tend to blend in with the younger students. In stead of being really tiny and petite like most people my height I'm a little bit over weight. Sometimes I think that if I lost just ten or fifteen pounds I would be perfect but not matter how hard I try to loose weight nothing changes. Because of my weight I have pretty big knockers that don't really seem to match how short I am, they really are more annoying then they are helpful. Try playing quidditch with huge boobs then get back to me, I would much rather be flat thanks very much.

It's not only her looks, she's very charismatic, and I wouldn't be friends with someone just because they're pretty. She's one of those people who makes you want to be in on every inside joke she has with her friends, and Megan just made everyone feel special. She Alex and Kait were my best friends, but Megan and I had been closest. Since first year she and I have gotten along famously, more carefree then our other housemates. Sometimes Ravenclaw isn't the most exciting house to be in.

No matter how hard I tried to distract myself the image was ingrained in my mind, Megan snogging the boy I had tried so hard to get over in the past year. My best friend who talked me through the painful end of the relationship, who constantly told me "You don't deserve that B, your better then him" and "Your way cuter than her, don't worry, everyone thinks so". I turned around as the door crept open and was greatful when I saw Alex step into the room.

"Hey."

That's all she said, hey. Really? But I could see the look of pity she had on her face, only then did the feeling of sadness begin to well up in my stomach. But there was no fucking way I was going to cry. I didn't cry about him before and I sure as hell wasn't going to cry about him now. Not even when she was involved.

"Bailey listen, I know your upset but she's drunk, ok? I'm sure tomorrow she will be begging for your forgiveness. She probably doesn't even realize it's him." I stared at her blankly after she said that. It's a shame I can't really control my emotions when I am under the influence of alcohol, I really like Alex. Her adorable shoulder length curly blonde hair and kind green eyes usually helped calm me down. She was the most level headed of the four of us, practically the mom of the group and was always there when I needed to vent. Tonight though, tonight I couldn't control my anger as much as I tried to, she wasn't spared.

"Fuck off Alex; I know for a fact she hasn't had enough butterbeer to be that drunk. I've been here all night remember? I've been here for the past two weeks and if anyone knows how much alcohol she can take, it's me. She's flirting with all the guys more because they all think she's really drunk. She's just doing what she always does, and of course she goes after the one guy she knows to stay away from. The one boy she KNOWS has hurt me more than anyone. Ryan isn't even her type! How the fuck can you justify what she's doing! You can't fix this Alex, I'm sorry but there is no way I can just let this slide."

Alex looked up from the floor after I finished my rant and looked at me calculatingly for a few seconds, her eyes held mine. "You can't just blame her you know, it was him as well."

That I knew very well, and as I closed my trunk I made my decision, there was only one way for him to feel what I was feeling. Even though I knew that it wouldn't mean as much to him, because he was the one who left me, I had to try. I looked over at Alex apologetically and levitated my trunk. I nodded, gave her a hug and whispered that I was sorry. She opened the bedroom door for me to walk out with her; I turned around one last time to look at the room I had spent half of every summer in since my first year.

Meg had a beautiful room, to queen beds so that we each had one. Sitting on the table between them were two pictures. One was of the four of us: Alex, Kait, Meg and I with our arms around each other giggling at something, no doubt a joke Kait had made. Every once in awhile Meg would wink at the camera and I would burst out laughing. The second was a muggle picture of the two of us at last years new years party. It was our favorite picture of the two of us and Meg made a black and white copy just for herself. I walked back over to the table and took the picture out of its frame.

If I was going to do this I knew I had to be dramatic. I turned back around to look at Alex and she smiled sadly at me, knowing now that I really was serious about leaving, and not looking back. We made our way down the stairs and I smiled at Meg's parents, they were always so kind to me, but I didn't want to bother them in the middle of their party. Meg's parents always threw her a beautiful birthday party and gave her free reign of their basement, as long as they could invite their friends as well. I gave them a feeble wave and left my trunk by the front door, Alex went downstairs before I did. I'm pretty sure she was just expecting me to leave. But I plastered a fake smile on my face and walked down the stairs. Kait gave me a hug when I reached the party and asked me if I needed another drink. I laughed and told her that I was fine, but I'm pretty sure she saw through my lie. Alex could catch her up later.

My eyes scanned the crowded room; more people had arrived in the five minutes since I had gone upstairs to pack. But sure enough Meg and Ryan, my Ryan, were making out on the couch at the back of the room. This time it didn't phase me as much because I was expecting it, sure it hurt, but not as much. When I found who I was looking for I walked towards him, I was determined, and now that we had made eye contact there was no turning back now. Paul was nice, he was more attractive than Ryan was but didn't have as good a personality, that didn't matter to me now. He smiled at me as I walked up and always a gentleman asked "Hey Bailey, you were a little weird earlier, you ok now?"

I tried as best I could to be flirty and said "Yeah! Sorry about that I needed to go grab something from Meg's room. But anyways would you do me a favor?" He seemed surprised and smiled at me, his blond curly hair and blue eyes made this a little bit easier. The fact that he was Ryan's best friend didn't hurt things at all.

"I guess it just depends on what it is" he laughed. I smiled at him and grabbed his wrist pulling him towards the middle of the room laughing. Trying to be as lighthearted as possible, but as soon as I knew we were in plain view of the couch I looked up at him with pleading eyes.

"I'm really sorry about this. You have to know it means nothing, and don't think I'm bitter at all, but I just really need to do this. Merlin I hope this doesn't make things awkward." After my little confession he looked down at me confused. I dragged him another five feet until I knew that Meg would see us, but I made sure we still just looked like part of the crowd.

In the split second before it happened I noticed three things: first, how the look on Paul's face slowly changed from confusion to understanding, second, how horrified Alex and Kait both looked over his shoulder, and third, I saw that Meg was pulling away from Ryan and laughing. 'Well, no turning back now' I though, as I threw my arms around Paul's neck and pulled him down to kiss me. He made it a lot easier by leaning down and putting his arms around my waist. I was pretty surprised he was kissing me back because I thought he would have been horrified. When I pulled away I saw Paul looking down at me, breathing heavily, with a look of understanding. He must have known then, known that I hadn't forgiven his best friend like I said I had. Known how much it hurt me that Meg would kiss him, and known that I needed to do something, anything to try to make him feel just like I had.

I looked over at the couch to Ryan's shocked face and smirked, but not long enough to make it look like I had only done it to piss him off. That would just make me seem weak, like the hurt little girl I really was. Hell, I knew it was immature but I had to do _something_. Even though I only caught a glimpse of the shocked look on Ryan's face that was enough for me, I smiled up at Paul and grabbed his wrist once again to pull him into the crowd. I didn't look at her; I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of looking into my face and realizing what she had just done. She deserved to feel like shit. Once we reached the middle of the crowd of dancing Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaw's, I gave Paul a sad smile and turned on my heel and walked calmly back up the stairs to my trunk.  
Before I walked out the door I took the picture of me and Meg out of my pocket and considered ripping it, but I knew that would be overkill. I would just throw it away as soon as I could. I took one last look behind me at the party and rolled my trunk outside. I knew that I had to get away from her house, even though I didn't think anyone would follow me, I had to move fast. I made my way out of her upscale neighborhood and onto a quiet muggle street. I lifted my wand into the air and waited.


End file.
